Piers Morgan, the former host of "Good Morning Britain," has fired back at Prince Harry over allegations made against him in a privacy lawsuit against Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN). Morgan, who currently hosts "Piers Morgan Uncensored," was notably mentioned in the lawsuit concerning alleged unethical journalistic practices.
The outspoken television personality addressed the issue in an interview with ITV News, countering the Duke of Sussex's invasion of privacy accusations. "All I'm going to say is I'm not going to take lectures on privacy invasion from Prince Harry," Morgan declared. He criticized Prince Harry for his series of interviews and memoir, which he argued constituted a violation of the royal family's privacy for commercial gain.
Prince Harry is currently suing MGN, publishers of the Daily Mirror and Sunday People, over allegations of illegal journalistic practices, including phone hacking and acquiring information under false pretenses, known as 'blagging.'
MGN has since apologized to Prince Harry for a story that appeared in the Sunday People in 2004, which was obtained illegally. However, the publisher refutes the broader allegations of phone hacking. "Where historical wrongdoing has taken place we have made admissions, take full responsibility and apologise unreservedly, but we will vigorously defend against allegations of wrongdoing where our journalists acted lawfully," the publisher stated in a defense.
According to court documents obtained by Newsweek, Prince Harry's legal team introduced testimony from Omid Scobie, co-author of "Finding Freedom." Scobie claimed he was instructed to hack phones during his internship at the Daily Mirror. The author also mentioned overhearing conversations about stories based on illegally sourced material. Morgan was the editor at the time Scobie worked for the Daily Mirror.
Prince Harry's legal team maintains it's "inconceivable" that Morgan and other editors were unaware of MGN journalists using private investigators to gather information. However, Morgan vehemently denies any involvement in such practices, stating to the BBC, "I've never hacked a phone." He underscored there was no evidence suggesting he was aware of any phone hacking during his tenure at the Daily Mirror.
While Morgan conceded there were civil cases during his nearly decade-long editorship, he insisted they had nothing to do with him and none of his journalists were arrested over phone hacking. "I've not been called to give evidence,